The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-03
The LATE PRRE BECEX.
THE GENERAL OF THE ORDER
OF JESUS.
A Great Diplomatist anu the Ardent
Friend Of the Poor Irish
In America.

cessors in leaving the common peo-
pie to the Uapuchins, and in merely
applying himself to the conquest of
the world through what in his prime
we're exclusively the governing class
es. In acting thus, he let what is
now the electorate of the most civil
lized nations of the continent almost
entirely slip from the hands of the
church of which he was a devoted
member. Like the present White
Pope" he was by nature and habit a
diplomatist, and, in a sense, a World
ly Wiseman. The Greathearts of
his time, such as O'Connell, Louis
Blanc, Garibaldi, Gladstone, alone
saw clearly that government should
be for the masses, and not for the
classes, and stroVe to shape institu.
lions according to their convictions.
The Jesuit tradition, curiously
enough, was, until the seventeenth
century, hostile to class privileges,
and for that reason was held in no
sort of favor by Catholic mouarchs.
In France, before 1913, the action of
the skeptics Of the eighteenth cen
fury did not go deeper than the
burgeoisie, which Father Beckx laid
himself out to win back from Vol.
tairianism, and in so doing lost all
hold on the millions. Renau said
that in 1913 the people of Paris
would not plant tree of liberty
until priest blessed it. Louis
Blanc avowed that he was never
emancipated himself from the reli-
gious ideas in which he was brought
up until after the French clergy
went over to the Emperor. The
marriage of Napoleon III almost co.
iucided with the election of Father
Beckx to the generalship of the
Jesuits. He, the Empress Eugene
aud M. de Lesseps had a common
Belgian ancestor -Grevigy, a pros
porous grocer at Bruges, who traded
with Malaga, and established a bust
ness house there which was a great
one early in the century. AS the or
thodoxy of the Empress was unshak-
on and her religious zeal warm, Fa-
Their Beckx saw in her fine instru-
ment whereby to direct France in the
current in which he wanted her to
go. He, therefore, placed the order
that he headed on the side of the
Empire, which encouraged it to
found high schools for the sons of
the aristocracy and rich bourgeOisie,
and the school at the Rue des Postes
to prepare young fellows for St. Cyr
and Polytechnic. Had the late
Prince Imperial succeeded his father
and reigned for q generation the
French army would have, been ami
mated with a crusading spirit. To-
ward the close of his generalship,
when all the fruits of his labors in
France were wrecked, Pere Beckx saw
his error, and commanded the Jesuits
here to respect the Republic as de
facto government, and try and profit
by the severe lesson they had re-
ceived. When the Father was
young man, undue importance was
attached to the conversion of some
OF the members of the English aris-
tocracy and few serenely high
Germans. Among the latter were
the Duke and Duchess Of Anhalt-
Koethau, relatives through Gather
inc IL of the Imperial House of
Russia, and wealthy and influential.
Father Beckx was sent with them
from Paris, where they joined the
Church OF Rene, to Germany. 1t is
unusual for Jesuit to be enamel
pated from the rule that obliges him
to live in house of the order.
When the Duke died the Father re-
manned as chaplain and director
with the Duchess, who took him to
Rome and then to Vienna, where
she settled Without being of the
grande monde in which she lived, he
was very much in it, aud acquired
that high social tone and polish and
dignity of manner for which he was
remarkable. He was very much re-
lied upon for advice by the Arch
duchess Sophie when she was bring
ing up her sons, the eldest of
whom is now Emperor of Austria.
There was Scotch vert"
whom Father Beckx sent here
toward the close Of the Empire to
study, in the guise of laic, the pros
poets of the Empire, and how things
were going on generally in Paris.
This gentleman brought 10000 a
year to the order, and was very sue
cesstul as a converter. When he
was here he had to live greatly by
his pen and as an art expert, In
which capacity he was employed by
Stewart and other American mil
lionaires. He said that the Black
Pope was altogether out of touch
with the White Pope, and still more
with Antonelli, with whom his Holt
ness was infatuated. In political
matters he never dreamt of consult
ing his Holiness, or any one about
him, because he only owed him ODE
dience in-things spiritual. 1t was
said of Father Beckx by Madame
d'Haussonville that he failed where
he had most labored-in the old
world ; and reaped the richest har-
vest where he did not sow-among
the poor Irish of America. OF late
years h. was more like a mummy
than a human being. Yet to the
end he retained that presence" for
which he was remarkable at the
time of his election"